The Basement Cellar
by dragonmay111
Summary: Claire Widowson has lived with her aunt since she was five years old, after the death of both her parents. As a child she was always told not to go into the basement cellar, the reasons always changing, which piqued her endless imagination. After giving into the temptation, what's behind the cellar door is not what she ever could have dreamed of.
1. Chapter 1

A/n: Welcome to my story! I am super excited to write a story for the Narnia series! I've been wanting to start one forever now and I finally got around to it. I hope you guys all enjoy and if you have any questions or notice any mistakes please let me know!

The basement cellar. It was a total mystery on what exactly was down there. There were many theories on what was behind that door; gold and riches, corpses that were possibly murdered by her aunt and uncle, or even nothing at all. Fact is, Claire wanted to know, and she was going to do whatever it took to do get through that door.

The first time she tried to open the door was when she was 5. It had been when she first moved in with her relatives and was still new to the house. She'd gotten curious one day and after starting her way in the attic and working her way down, the basement was the last place she got to. The entrance was near the guest bathroom, down the hall from the kitchens. After making it past the first door at the top of the stairs, it dipped down a creaky staircase, where there was a door at the bottom. The door was a red wood with no designs, but the handle was an intricately sloped handle made of a golden metal.

Eagerly, her chubby fingers gripped the handle tightly and tried to pull it open. To her dismay, it was locked. She hurried back up the stairs to where her aunt was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

"Aunt Mary, do you have the key to the basement?" The little girl gingerly asked.

Her aunt paused, looking at the girl strangely. "That's a private room of your uncle's Claire, you can't go in there," the woman tried to act like the question didn't surprise her, but she seemed very uncomfortable answering.

"When he returns from work, can I ask him to take me to see it?" Little Claire didn't see the issue in going to see a little cellar. What was so important that he had to hide in a basement anyways?

"We shall see child," the woman said before ording the girl to wash up for dinner.

When her uncle returned, she was already asleep, so she opted to try and ask him before he left again. His reply was curt and also a no. For a few years she left it at that, and didn't try asking again. However, when she was 8, she tried asking once again. The answer was still no, but this time they both gave her different reasonings. Than again at 10, still no luck.

After that, she began trying to sneak into the cellar without permission. She knew it was wrong of her to sneak, but they weren't being very reasonable either! She searched the house for the key, no such luck with that. She checked her guardians rooms, the closets and and desks, everywhere she could think off. Soon she began to feel wary of ever getting to see what was behind that door.

One day though, when she was fourteen, she decided to just pick the lock herself. There was a neighborhood boy a few years older than her, who taught her how to pick locks. They were discussing the door one day when she had complained at another failed attempt of getting in. He had joked that he knew how to pick locks and she grew eager in trying to recruit him for her mission.

"No way! Your aunt Mary and uncle John will have me skinned. But, I can teach you to do it yourself. Only if you promise, if you get caught you won't tell them I told you how," he whispered as if her guardians were watching them at that very instant.

"Deal!" She grinned brightly.

So she set to work. It was fall, so she dressed in warm blue sweater and a long dark brown pleated skirt. She picked the day after the perfect oprutunity arose when her aunt started to feel ill. She had to wait until her uncle was well on to work and her aunt had told her she was going to take a rest upstairs. After that, she took the opportunity to set to work. She took a pile of pins and needles and wore her lucky ring. It was a gold band with a tear shaped ruby as the center stone. For what she was about to do, she'd need all the luck she could get.

Tying her hair up into a plait, she worked her way to the basement. Seeing the area clear, she moved in. She creeped down the stairs pausing each time it creaked long and loudly. She quietly prayed that her aunt wouldn't wake and began the task. She slipped the needle and pins into place and began pushing them into the proper places like she was taught. After a couple minutes, she finally heard the click of the door unlock.

Standing up, Claire nervously wiped her hands on her skirt and pulled open the door.' Please don't just be an empty room.' She chanted internally.

The first thing she saw was green pine needles. Confused, she stepped forward, pushing away the green that invaded her face. She heard a creak and than a click, so she turned back. In the next instant all she knew was that she was falling. It was cold and wet and she had all the air knocked out of her.

Finally fealing like the world wasn't spinning, she sat up. Wherever she was, was not her basement cellar. The skys were clouded but no snow fell, the trees and ground were coated in heavy layers of it however. Twisting and turning she tried to find where she fell from and go back. This was not what she was expecting when opening that door.

"Did they know?" She whispered out with a tinge of anger. Why did they not worn her what was really going on, or did they even know?

Not knowing what to do, she began walking, in hope's of finding somebody to help her. Shivering lighty, she began to wonder if she were ever going to be able to find someone. Soon enough she began to hear voices, hope filling her, she began running towards the voices.

"Hello!" Claire rasped at first, before calling out again.

Soon enough she came across four children, who were almost all talking and laughing. There were two boys and two girls. One boy, who looked to be the oldest, was tall and blonde with bright blue eyes. Next to him was the smallest, the girl had short reddish brown hair and was smiling brightly. Than was a girl who looked to be about her age, she had brown hair and had freckles speckled across her nose and cheeks. Finally, slightly trailed behind the others was a boy, he had dark hair and an angry scowl across his face. They were all dressed in fluffy fur coats and seemed flushed like she surely was from the cold.

They all looked at her in surprise and suspicion. Desperate, she moved forward almost in tears by now. "Can you please tell me where or what this place is? I don't know how I got here, I'm so confused!" The girl pleaded at each person.

"The little girl stepped forward and smiled brightly," Its okay," the girl said soothingly." You are in Narnia!"


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all for reading and I hopefully will be able to get a new chapter is soon! Please let me know what you think or if you guys have any problems!

To: **Allree,** you are such a sweetie pie! Thank you so much for following and reviewing my stories! I hope you enjoy! I'm still working on the next chapter for differences start small so I hope this will make up for it! 3

* * *

After a few explanations and introductions went about, Claire began to feel a little more at ease. She was in a whole different world and her and the other children were off to meet with a Mr. Tumnus. Who was appariantly, a faun! It was so exciting getting to learn that there were so many things in this world that were just fairy tales in England. The children all explained that they came to this world through a wardrobe. At least though, Lucy and Edmund had been here before and was in fact, able to go home. The Pevensie's had agreed to try and help Claire find her way back to her door after they finish meeting with Mr. Tumnus.

"So where are you from Claire?" Susan had asked her during their trek.

"I'm from Manchester England, where are you all from?"

"Woah! We are from Finchley, we live closer south than you do," Lucy popped in.

Continuing on, Lucy, Peter, and occasionally Susan would ask questions or exchange information about their lives. Claire really liked the Pevensie's, for they all seemed like they truly loved and cherished their family and were genuinely good people. Each child had their own unique personality and it was refreshing to meet so many knew people. She feared however, that Edmund did not like her at all and Susan was still pretty untrusting of her.

Lucy and Peter had taken a liking to the newest member of the bunch. Lucy found they both held a certain marvel to the beauty of the world of Narnia and the possibilities of things or people to discover. It was nice not to be treated like a child by someone older, for Claire had such bright personality with each of her family members, which never wavered, even when talking to grumpy Edmund. Peter, like his younger sister flocked to the girl when she began talking to the family and enjoyed her much more happy attitude, now that she was no longer afraid. She was a very smiley person and it was hard not to enjoy himself in the new company.

On the other hand, Susan and Edmund were a little more reluctant with the girl. Susan did not think that Claire was out to get her family and seemed like a good person, but she was still a stranger. She needed to know the girl for longer to truly trust her. Edmund believed she was a nice girl but wasn't liking how close she got to his family so quickly. As well as the fact she was going to throw a wrench in his plans for taking his family to the queen, but he could probably just let her be one of his new faithful subjects.

"Oh I can't wait for you all to meet Mr. Thumnus, we can have tea, and cakes, and-," Lucy abruptly stopped speaking upon reaching the end of the little valley which held a broken down house. The girl bolts into the broken in doorway.

"Lucy!" Peter yells chasing after his younger sister, the rest of the children quickly follow suit.

Looking inside the house was horrible, it brought tears to Claire's eyes to see anyone's home in such a state. There were chairs and tables tipped over and broken in, windows busted, and books thrown about. Snow coated most of the surfaces, as though it's been like this for days. As well as, no sign of Mr. Tumnus.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy spoke also on the verge of tears. Claire bent down and give the girl a hug for comfort, for the both of them. There was cracking as Edmund steps in deeper in the house.

Susan walks forward and points at a paper nailed to a post." Peter what is that on the walls?"

Peter grabs the parchment and begins reading aloud," The former occupant of these premises, the Faun Tumnus, is under arrest and awaiting his trial on a charge of high treason against her imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the lone islands, etc., also of comforting her said majesties enemies, harbouring spies and fraternizing with humans. Signed Maugrim, captain of the secret police. Long live the queen," Peter trailed off.

"Now we should really go," Susan speaks quickly, already moving to leave.

"But we have to help him!" Lucy shouts pulling away from Claire.

"Lucy," Claire calls her name sadly.

"Its out of our hands now Lu," Peter walks forward to pull her to the doorway, grabbing Claire's hand as well.

"You don't get it do you? I'm the human! He helped ME!" Lucy shouts pulling away from Peter this time.

Claire grips Peter's hand hard,"Peter isn't there anything we can do?" Glancing up at the girl, he sighs seeing the look on both Claire's and than his sisters faces.

"Maybe we should call the police," Peter trails off, still unsure of what to do.

"These are the police!" Susan snaps her voice picking up an agitated edge.

"Besides, he's a criminal," Edmund soon cut in. The whole group turn and look at the boy. Lucy slowly looks down in hurt.

"Dont worry Lu, we'll think of something," Peter pulls the young girl into his side.

They all start making their way out, when the strangest noise comes from a bird."Psst!"

"Did that bird just 'psst' us?" Susan spoke the words everyone had been thinking.

Stepping outside, the children watch as the bird flies off. Suddenly, they hear rustling in the bushes near them. Everyone tenses up, Peter grabbing as many of the children as he can to push behind him or against him, preparing for the worst. Claire, squashed between Lucy and Peter, closes her eyes in fear, before she hears Lucy speak again.

"It's a beaver," Lucy claims pulling away from her brothers strong grip on the girls. Everyone steps apart as Peter steps closer.

"Here boy, come here," Peter clicks his tongue, bending down with his fingers outstretched. The beaver approaches and stands upright.

"I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want!" The beaver quips out. Claire let's loose a few chuckles at Peter's dumbfounded face.

"It's a talking beaver," Edmund exclaims stepping forward.

"Lucy Pevensie?" The beaver asks gently, pulling out something small.

"Yes?" The small girl steps forward. She bends down as he hands her a handkerchief.

"This is the handkerchief I gave to Mr-,"

"Tumnus. He gave it to me just before they took him," he tells us sadly.

"Is he alright?" She asks hoping to hear that her friend is okay.

"Further in," the beaver calls walking off deeper into the woods.

Claire, Lucy, and Peter begin walking off after the beaver. Susan grabs Peter's and Claire's arms, pulling them back." We don't know what we could be doing," she grips them tighter.

"Shes right. How do we know we can trust this beaver?" Edmund adds in.

"He says he knows the faun," Peter says like there's nothing left to say about it.

"I do know we should be careful of who we go with, but I really think that he is trying to help us," Claire tried to appeal to both sides.

"He's a beaver. He shouldn't be saying anything!" Susan shouts out, frustrated. She was trying to save them from getting hurt like the faun!

Suddenly the beaver pops back from the bushes," Everything alright?"

"Yes. We were just talking," Peter tries to keep his own nerves from riling up.

"That's better left for safer corners."

"He means the trees," Lucy said ominously.


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait, I wanted to put some time in my other story, so this one to the backseat. Thank you for reading and liking. If you have any criticisms or suggestions, let me know!

The children all followed the beaver through the cliffs. They made their way to a dam blocking off a frozen river, where there were bits of frozen water from where it leaked out the thinner bits of the blockade. It was quite big though.

"There it is, home sweet home," Mr Beaver grumbled out.

"Oh what a beautiful dam Mr Beaver!" Lucy exclaimed, smiling brightly.

"Merely a trifle," he acted nonchalant but the Claire could tell he was happy about the compliment.

They finally reached the entrance of the dam where another beaver exited." Is that you Beaver? If I find out you've been out with Badger again, I'll-," Mrs Beaver cut herself off," Oh! They're not Badgers! I never thought I'd see this day." Turning to her husband, she glared, or what Claire thought was a glare." You couldn't have given me a ten minutes warning? Look at my fur."

"I would have given you a week if I thought it would help," he chuckled at his wife. Claire chuckled glancing at Susan who shared her grin.

"Well you must be cold and hungry. Let's get you inside for warm food and civilized conversation," Mrs beaver ushered the children inside. Peter had stepped back and extended his arm letting his sisters and Claire go ahead of him. Claire smiled at him in gratitude, ducking into the house.

The house was small but warm and cozy. The children shrugged off their jackets, and sat around a center table where Mrs Beaver set food in front of all the children. Claire noticed that Edmund remained near the door, not joining the children for food.

"Fish and sticks dears," Mrs beaver announced moving to join the children and her husband at the table.

"Is there nothing we can do to help Mr Tumnus?" Peter was the first to break the silence.

"Well. There's hope!" Mrs beaver said optimistic.

"Yeah, there's a load full of hope. Aslan is on the move!" The name sent a wave of tingling through Claire, it was pleasant and full of strength. Claire blinked in confusion at Mr Beaver, who was Aslan?

"Who is Aslan?" Edmund voiced her thoughts.

Mr Beaver started laughing like Edmund just told him a joke. Mrs Beaver laid a paw on her husband to help give him understanding.

"Aslan. You silly little blighter. You don't know, do you?" Mr Beaver trailed off looking confused at each of the children. Claire truly had no clue who it was, but she was eager to put a face to the name.

"Well we haven't actually been here for very long." Peter spoke up in defense.

"He's only the king in the whole wood, the true king of Narnia!" Mr Beaver shouted out in pride." And he's waiting for you!"

"Waiting for us?" Claire questioned, quickly looking at the other children and seeing the same question in their eyes.

"You've got to be joking! Look Aslan's return, Tumnus' arrest. The secret police! They're all happening because of you!"

"You're blaming us?" Susan scoffed angrily.

"Not blaming you, thanking you," Mrs Beaver tried to placate the girl.

"There's a prophecy, when Adams flesh and Adams bone sits In Cair Paravel on the the throne, the evil will be over and done!" Me Beaver said it so easily, as if he'd memorized the saying his whole life.

"You know that doesn't really rhyme," Susan cut in.

"You're missing the point!"

"It has been long told that two sons of Adam and Three daughters of Eve will appear to defeat the White Witch and return peace to Narnia," Mrs Beaver smiled at the children.

"And you think we're the ones?" Peter said rising to his feet.

"Well you'd better be, Aslan's already fitted out your army!" Mr Beaver said also rising to his feet.

"I think you've made a mistake, we're not heroes!" Peter declared sharply.

"We're from Finchley!" Susan shouted, moving away with Peter.

"And Manchester," Claire interjected pointlessly, still seated with Lucy.

"I think it's time we're going," Peter said grabbing Lucy out of her chair and going towards Claire, who tried to resist at first but gave in at the blondes look. Taking her coat from the boy and placing it back on frustrated, at not knowing what to do but run away with the others.

"But what about Mr Tumnus?" Lucy asked pulling her face into a scrunch.

"Sorry Lu, it's our of our hands," Peter said gently pulling his sisters coat back on her.

"But-" Claire was cut of by Susan tugging her away.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Susan said quickly.

"Ed, time to go. Ed?" Peter looked around the room, not spotting the dark haired boy." I'm gonna kill him!"

"You may not have to," Mr Beaver said darkly."Has Edmund been to Narnia before?"

Realization hits the children and they all take off outside. Peter and Claire take the lead, Susan next and than Lucy trailing behind with the beavers. The air was cold and biting, and Claire could feel her skin color redly.

"Hurry up!" Peter shouted behind him.

"My legs can only go so fast," Claire said huffing. She met Peter on the top of the hill and bent over to catch her breath.

"Edmund!" Lucy shouts as she and the rest of the company reach the top.

"Shh, they'll hear you!" Mr Beaver whispered harshly. Peter began chasing on after Edmund and was held back by Mr Beaver.

"Get off of me! We can't just let him go!" The blonde boy bellows out.

"Don't ya get it? He's the bait! She wants all ya in there, to kill ya!" Mr Beavers words stop Peter. All the children stood thunderstruck. Soon, Susan walks towards Peter and Claire angrily.

"This is all your fault! None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!" Susan cried pointing at both the teens. Claire took a step back, as if the girl had just struck her physically. However, Peter in turn also grew angry.

"So you knew this would happen?" Peter questioned stepping forward.

"I didn't know what would have happened," Susan trailed off, losing some of her steam.

"Stop! This fighting isn't going to help Edmund," Lucy cut in between her siblings.

"She's right. Only Aslan can save him now," Mr Beaver said catching the children's attention. Peter turned to look back at Claire, who had looked back at him. Nodding her head slightly, he returned the gesture before looking back at Mr Beaver.

"Take us to him."


End file.
